A Remedy for Solitude
by jaggedjacket
Summary: A chance encounter years after their team disbanded leaves Gai gasping for breath.


This was me attempting a GaixTenten fic. Key word: attempt. I tried, I really did. Not sure this worked as well as my other fics. You be the judge. I know, Gai and Tenten? Well, my goal is to hit as many males _who are not Neji _as possible. Gai was inevitable. This was the best I could do. So here you have it.

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Gai consciously rubbed his stinging deltoid while attempting to read the last line of the paper that he was holding, again. He pressed the edge of the tape on the bandage down for the hundredth time that evening, glad that he had taken his shirt off so that he could fidget with the one furled corner of the bandage on the side that wouldn't lay flat. Squinting at the article in hand, the words blurred in and out of focus and he found himself bringing it closer to his face and then back down at his lap to see if his vision could find a spot where the letters could be readable.

Giving up, he threw his carefully folded paper on the cushion beside him in exchange for eating his sorely neglected supper. The steam had long since been gone from above his meager meal, and now it sat at best lukewarm. He searched around the bowl for his chopsticks only to come up empty. With a frown on his face he got up to hunt down his mismatched utensils from the kitchen, wiping the sweat off of his forehead in the process.

_Wait. Sweat? When had he begun to sweat? _

Looking at the perspiration in the palm of his blurry hand with bewilderment, Gai felt his legs give out from below him. Landing hard on his left knee, he lurched to the same side and then he quickly felt the rest of his body connect with the wooden floor below him. He knew he had blacked out for a second, a minute? He was impossible to tell how long he had been laying there. He opened his eyes to see his left hand in front of him, and a pair of familiar sandals and feet approaching him, all going in and out of focus randomly.

The slender figure crouched down, putting her face up to his so he could see it. He tried to keep his eyes open.

"Sempai, you really shouldn't live alone. You need someone to take care of you, lest one of your former charges accidently poisons you in a friendly spar." Her sheepish smile spread across her face, but Gai noted a bit of mischievousness in her eyes as well, even if it was a bit blurry.

"Tenten, I," was all Gai managed to get out before letting out a grunt of anguish as he clutched his right shoulder directly over the bandage that was now oozing.

"Whoa, careful now. You are gunna hafta lay still if you want me to give you an antidote." She carefully rolled him onto his back and slipped the contents of a tincture in his mouth. Gai thought that it had been a cold oil at first, but the more that he tasted the inside of his mouth after his initial swallowing, the more he thought that the antidote had been mentholated.

He felt more familiar stinging as she ripped off the bandage from the shuriken that she had hit him with earlier that day without much preamble. Choking on his own gasp and trying his best not to flinch, he felt her tiny hand on his chest rubbing back and forth to soothe him.

"Sorry, I know it stings. I gotta salve that can deliver more of the antidote through your open wound. After that, I got one that will kill the pain. The first one hurts like hell and if you hold a grudge against me for the rest of my life after I apply it, I won't blame you. Bite down on this." She shoved something gently between his teeth, "Deep breath. One, two..."

Gai had no idea what got shoved into his mouth, but he was willing to bet that it was some kind of leather or cloth. Gai suddenly remembered that she never counted to three when doing such procedures. She stuck you on two.

Gai's body was wracked with a violent seizure of pain, lasting the duration of only a few seconds before Tenten was able to slather the second salve on his wide-spread cut. The involuntary myoclonic twitches finally subsided, and Gai felt the tension ease off of him before his body reached a febrific braking point and passed out.

When Gai dared to open his eyes, a hazy orange glaze filtered through his bedroom window illuminating the motes of dust in the air like delicate feather flakes in no hurry to reach a destination. Fall had settled in on Konoha and soon the warm afternoons would turn chilly as a brisk winter approached.

Watching the whimsy random specks of dust so comfortably in his bed left him sighing with contentment. He had been in dire need of a vacation. The extra tasks at the Hokage's office and extended missions left little to no flex time these days. Although, if Gai were truly honest with himself, it was because he needed the time to fill the void of endless hours in his non-shinobic duties. The evenings he found himself bored and he longed for company. There was only so much he could do to fill the hours, and he knew he couldn't train at every moment of the day even if he tried. He loved to read, and did so on a regular basis. He had even reached a point where he had read the obscene books that Kakashi was notorious for pulling out at every moment _he_ was bored. The only thing that he got from those books was that Kakashi truly was a pervert and the romance in them…what little wasn't tainted by salacious writing…only had him long for a female companion. The times he didn't read were left looking outside his window with a longing to share his life with someone. Sure, Lee would occasionally stop by. It wasn't like he could deny any of his former charges a chance to share a meal and catch up. Kakashi would visit when the stinging of loneliness burdened him too much as well, as he also longed for a bit of human contact to quell the ache it left on most nights. Sometimes they would play cards or just drink tea. Occasionally they would reminisce and drink alcohol. As much as Gai loved to hang with him, Kakashi still wasn't filling that void that still found him on cold nights. He wanted companionship with a female, not friendship with a fellow comrade.

Gai nuzzled into his pillow, relishing in the wonderful aroma below his nose. He wondered briefly if he had recently changed fabric softeners, or if he had somehow bought a different detergent by accident. His pillow had an alluring scent that Gai couldn't quite place.

"Thought you would never wake up." Gai's eyes instantly shot open in. Pillows should not talk. Nor should they sound like Tenten.

"Geez, don't freak out, Sempai, you wouldn't sleep soundly unless I was next to you. Just relax. The worst of it is over. The poison is working its way out of your system and you should be good as new by tomorrow. Don't you dare try to get out of this bed, mister!" Tenten put force on his forehead as he tried to sit up and put distance between them. "Don't you move again! I swear I am going to do more than poison you if you so much as think about getting out of this bed!"

Gai happened to know that Tenten didn't threaten idly. He slumped back down into her lap, but was so tense that she sensed it right away.

"Oh for heaven's sake! I don't have cooties, ya know!" She bent over to look him in the eye. From the angle of his head in her lap and her staring down at him, her bangs were just barely brushing against his lips and her fiery stare was narrowed in an intimidating fashion. "I know that it has been a while since we were on the same team, but l didn't think we had lost all of our familiarity. Since we are both adults, I expect you to act as one." Gai simply nodded, wide eyed and speechless, slightly recoiled like a scolded puppy. Tenten settled her spine against his head board and it took her a few moments to gain some composure.

Gai, who was in no position to move even a few inches, just lay there contemplative and a bit uncomfortable about the whole situation.

Tenten began to play with his hair, something that both thrilled him as he relished each touch, and gave him further cause for alarm.

She nonchalantly weaved her fingers in and out, expertly threading them through it like a dance before taking the pads of her fingers and rubbing circles along his scalp. The effect was enchanting and incredibly relaxing. Gai was on the verge of sleep again, all tension now melted from his core as his eyes found the back of his head with contentment. He listened to her words, however, even after his eyes closed and his mind wanted to drift off into more needed rest.

"You worry me, Sempai," she began in a soft, contemplative voice. Gai managed to crack open and spy her staring out the window that had him so entranced earlier. "I wish you had someone to take care of you. I wish _**I**_ could be around to take care of you."

He wished that, too.

"I am glad you are here." Gai murmured to her before he fell back asleep.

Perhaps, he didn't have to be so lonely after all.


End file.
